“Police sent officers to the premises and things would be calm when they were about. But they couldn’t stay all the time so things would go back to how they were,” said Weldschidt.
He added that the threats put Bradley's life in danger to a point where they started working remotely.
“She was fearful for her life and eventually worked from home,” Weldschidt said.
He said safety about the building became uncertain as the criminal elements from the vicinity started encroaching.
“Police were complicit. They would hang about there, they knew what was happening.” Eventually Bradley took a sabbatical and decided the shelter could go on “because maybe it was a racial issue”.
Weldschidt said in 2016 they had a meeting with the instigators and things did not settle. “We tried to negotiate, it turned out to be a shouting match and no resolution came about. I [later] heard it was used as a place of prostitution and other elements since.”
TimesLIVE
Directors of Usindiso shelter say they feared for their lives
Image: File/ THULANI MBELE
Four women who refused to leave the Usindiso building after their rehabilitation period had ended have been blamed for bullying other residents and threatening the owners with EFF members.
Glyn Weldschidt, former director and chair of the Usindiso Ministries board, testified in the commission of inquiry into the August fire at the Usindiso building on Wednesday that when the situation escalated, they had no choice but to abandon their functions at the shelter. The ministry ran the shelter to rehabilitate and provide support for abused women.
“The rehabilitation process would be up to 12 months, and so these women had overstayed their 12 months. They had become disruptive to the programmes and were bullying the other women. They were told that they needed to leave,” said Weldschidt.
“They threatened the management and said they would get help from the EFF. They said [Usindiso Ministries director pastor Jay] Bradley was the one who needed to move.”
Weldschidt said the Usindiso Ministries informed the mayor’s office and police.
“Police sent officers to the premises and things would be calm when they were about. But they couldn’t stay all the time so things would go back to how they were,” said Weldschidt.
He added that the threats put Bradley's life in danger to a point where they started working remotely.
“She was fearful for her life and eventually worked from home,” Weldschidt said.
He said safety about the building became uncertain as the criminal elements from the vicinity started encroaching.
“Police were complicit. They would hang about there, they knew what was happening.” Eventually Bradley took a sabbatical and decided the shelter could go on “because maybe it was a racial issue”.
Weldschidt said in 2016 they had a meeting with the instigators and things did not settle. “We tried to negotiate, it turned out to be a shouting match and no resolution came about. I [later] heard it was used as a place of prostitution and other elements since.”
TimesLIVE
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